Bodkin is working with Dr. Vassilios Bezzerides, who invented an electronic device to measure such dehydration. Funding was provided by CIMIT (Center for Integration of Medicine & Innovative Technology), a nonprofit consortium of Boston teaching hospitals and universities, to develop a beta prototype for clinical trials.

The device applies pressure to the fingertip to allow measurement of
blood flow when the pressure is released. Courtesy of Bodkin Design and
Engineering.
Capillary refill time is a common measure of blood flow and is conducted by pinching and releasing a patient’s fingertip and observing the time it takes for the blood to refill. The longer the refill time, the more dehydrated the patient.

The prototype instrument BD&E is designing uses an optical sensor and computer to objectively measure this effect, and can be used not only in infants, but also athletes, the elderly or the incapacitated.